Guiding and connecting means for pile-driving hammers and piles



July 24, 1951 H. JOHANSEN ET AL 2,562,939

GUIDING AND CONNECTING MEANS FOR PILE DRIVING HAMMERS AND FILES Filed April 16, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TORS July 24, 1951 JOHANSEN ETAL 2562,63

v GUIDING AND CONNECTING MEANS FOR FILE DRIVING HAMMERS AND PILES Filed April 16, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l ll l" ing the body "of theharrimer H, and "projecting beneath the hammer a considerable distance of, say, two to four feet, depending upon the size of the hammer. These side members are shown as connected by a transverse hoop mem- H her 8 at the upper end closelyembracingtheupper end of the hammer.

A hook engaging eye '1 projects upwardly from the hammer to receive the hook of the suspending cable. The side members are secured to the bers carried on the members 5, while on one of the members may be provided cross steps in the form of small rods 4i welded to the flanges of the I beam forming this member.

Assuming that a pile is stood on end, the hammer is carried by a boom B and cable C, as indicated in Fig. l4, and is loweredv over the pile guiding ;lit for this purpose under i control of the 500m. H

.As the pile is thus thrust upwardly between the "members 12 and I, it passes the latch 26 which engages the elongated opening 25, and its upper fendfits into the driving head of the lower end of the hammer, without the use of lugs and sav- -ing one or two more frequently necessary to place the'hammer on the pile.

. The pile andhammer may now be picked up hammer by connecting plates, indicated at 8,- I and between the lower projecting ends'of the members 5 are supported a pair of pile embracing and guiding members H), which, as shown,

are suitably removably connected as by bolts and flanges at IE to members [2 which project downwardly several feet below the members l0. These members and I2 are preferably formed struc-j turally, as indicated in Fig. 4, to' present -webs embracing the web of the H shaped pile, and hay-- ing flanges extending outwardly for the greater portion of the distancebetween the flanges of the H-shapedpile, as appears in Figs. 4 and 5. The lower ends of the members I2 are-provided with upwardly and inwardly sloping surfaces to facilitate engaging the members [2 with the to guide it upwardly between them.

Bracing ring members l8, l9, and add to th rigidity of the'frame thus described. V

' These lower ring membersprovide a convenient point of connecting guide cables 22, which'may be used to steady the pile and aid in positioning The H-shaped pile is preferably provided with.

an .elongated opening near one end, as indicated at in Fig. 6. As the guiding and embracing.

members 12 and in are slid over the end of the pile, a latch 26 is first pushed to the left, and is then thrust into engagement with this opening by a spring indicated at 21 (Fig. 5).

Parallel bars 28 extending from and attached to the latch are guided in suitable openings formed in flanges of the member 5, andthey embrace a lever shown as pivoted to one of the members 5, and each engages a pin 3| projecting intoa slot 29 providing a lost motion connection permitting the latch to be pushed back, and whereby when the lever 30 is swung outwardly, the

arms 28 and latch member 26 are drawn"out-' wardly, releasing the engagement with the pile.

As a convenient means for effecting this release, we have shown a triangular leverj plate"32,i

connected by a pivot 3! at the lower end of the lever 3i, and held between suitable guides while a rope or cable 35 attached to the outer end of; the lever plate 32 may effect this releasing mo'- tion. 7 'As the guide members 12 and H) are slid downwardly over the end of the pile, the additional assurance of alignment is effected by angle plates" I6 and H which have their sides sloped inwardly to meet the flanges of the members l2, the lower end of which is shown as having a rounded poin 6 At times it is desirable for a workman toj'oil-f the hammer or detach the hook, and accordingly We provide a platform member-40 'atfeither side of the hammer body supported by cross"meiii=" with sloping sides, as indicated atl3.

pile

together, carried to the exact position desired, and be accurately placed, while still using the guide cables 22 if necessary. I,

soon as it is placed, the hammer is lowered as usual,releasing 'its'weight onto the pile, and as soon as the pile stops settling, the driving may commence. I With each blow hammer and frame follow the" pile. downwardly, while being maintained in accurate definite mutual and vertical alignment. '-"Qbviously, the suspending and positioning of, the hammer 'so''quipped with the pile carried by. the guide mechanism tends to hang normally per-f-j fectly straight and as vertical as a plumbline; and this accurate alignment is, of course,.mai'n'- tained until the pile driven to its final pos'i-fl tion. For shorter piles, and under some conditions, it 'isdesirable that the guides should be shorter, inflwhich case the sections I2 may be removed at the parting joints i5, which present sloping su'rfaces to guide them onto the pile, as before.' I I A modified form of our invention may be adapted to round pile, such as wood, or the octagonal 'or nearly round reinforced concrete type in some instances. In such a case, the hammer H is provided with a suitable-driving head to receive the upper end, of the'pile, indicated at P in Figs. 7 to 11. 'As before, the frame of the hammer is fitted with side rail structural members 5A which ex tend a substantial distance below the lower end J of'the 'hammenand in this case are shown con- 9 (but omitted from Figs. 7 and 8 for conveniencev and clarity), cam centeringand guiding mem bers 52 are shown as pivotally mounted on "the, lower ring plate 5|. These are so shaped asto provide guiding surfaces engaging the piles P1,,

' and as having outwardly extending arm portionsj ';pivotall y connected to a yielding link mech l anism, tending to draw the arms upwardly and cause the centering engagement with the pile. The spring tension. on these arms at all times ef -r fects a centering action, four of these members} being shown as indicated in Fig. 10. 1

Pivotally carried on the upper ring plate 53 are a corresponding number of gripping. and

centering members, shown'as comprising pivoted;

arms 56, in turn pivotally carrying gripping aws M 51 so shaped as to effect a centering and gripping action on the pile, while permitting it to move relatively upwardly as the hammer is lowered into driving position.

As shown, the arms 56 are stressed downwardly and inwardly by the spring tension members 6! which may be constructed in the form of a sleeve and plunger having a spring 6! acting to effect a tension drawing the ends of the link member 60 together, the upper member having a head 62 slidably fitted within the tubular member, andwhereby fluid pressure, such as steam or air, may extend this link upon being admitted through an opening 63 to effect release of the pile gripping members 52 and by extending the connecting links therebetween.

It will be seen that as the arms 55 swing downwardly slightly, the curved surfaces of the centering members 52 are drawn away from the pile surface, and at this time stop members 58 and 59 on the arms 55 and plate 5| limit the downward movement of the arm 55, forming a reaction member causing the extension of the connecting member 65 to push forcibly upwardly on the members 56 releasing the gripping jaws 51.

The connecting link device, as above described, may be constructed similarly to that of the prior patent, No. 2,023,527, granted to H. Johansen, one of the co-inventors hereof.

Still another modification of this link connection which may be used is illustrated in Fig. 13 where a tightly coiled spring 65 has its end members 66 and 61 pivoted to the arms 55 and lever members 56.

Normally, a simple releasing mechanism for both sets of gripping devices 52 and 51 may be provided by using a cable i6 passing over sheaves 12 and M, and connected to two of the members 56, and including in its connection a tiltable plate i8 provided with a hand line or rope 19, whereby the member 18 may be tilted to shorten the cable 16 and lift the ripping members out of engagement. Lifting the upper gripping members will correspondingly draw upwardly on the arms 55, releasing their gripping action, whereupon the hammer may-be lifted from the pile P. Referring again to Fig. 14, it will be seen that this mechanism, there simply and diagrammatically illustrated, may be used as with the other form of pile, and the arrangement described in connection with Figs. 1 to 6. That is, the cable and hook may suspend the hammer from the boom B with the pile in position, and which hangs in vertical alignment permitting accurate placement of the pile which may be further assured by using the guide lines 22.

As stated in the foregoing, the form shown particularly in Figs. 1 to 5 may be adapted for I any steel piling, and would be especially adapted for use with sheet piling, interlocking pile, and the like, having a flat central web in which case little or no modification of the guiding means is necessary.

Various modifications may be made in the details of construction and to suit different forms of pile without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention as described in the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, What we claim is:

1. The combination with a pile driving steam hammer of a pile embracing and guiding means comprising longitudinal members secured to the hammer body and projecting a substantial distance below the driving end of the hammer, pile embracing means rigidly carried by said extensions, a latching means carried on said extension for engaging the pile to lift it with the hammer, and means operable from the ground for releasing the latching means.

2. In a device of the character described in claim 1, in which the pile embracing extensions are flanged structural members positioned and spaced to engage and slidably fit the web between the flanges of an H-shaped steel pile.

3. The combination with a steam pile driving hammer, of means for embracing and maintaining axial alignment between a pile and hammer consisting of a frame fixed to the hammer and having rigid fixed flanged longitudinally extending parallel members extending below the hammer and so spaced apart as to embrace the web and engage the flanges of an H-shaped pile, latching means carried by said members for engaging the pile when the embracing means is slid downwardly over the same, said'latching means comprising a movable member adapted to project into an opening in the web of the pile.

4. A pile driving, guiding and supporting means for steel pile of the type having a web and side flanges, and comprising a steam hammer, a pile embracing and guiding means secured to the hammer body and projecting a substantial distance below the driving end of the hammer, pile embracing means rigidly carried by said extensions and adapted to engage the opposite sides of a web of the pile and slidably fit between the flanges of the pile, transverse annular bracing members connected to the frame and extensions and adapted to surround the pile, the lower ends of the extensions having surfaces sloping upwardly and inwardly, pile engaging means for holding the pile in the frame and in fixed relation to the hammer with means for releasing the engaging means.

5. The structure described in claim 4 in which transverse supports are fixed to and extend laterally each way from the frame members embracing the hammer body and workmens supports carried on said latter members.

HANS J OHANSEN. ALFRED A. VISINTAINER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,566,631 Sturtevant Dec. 22, 1925 1,879,993 Salmon Sept. 27, 1932 2,068,045 Wohlmeyer Jan. 19, 1937 

